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4 Risks of Not Tracking the Customer Journey

The multi-channel customer experience has raised a number of questions about how call centers should effectively measure the customer journey. More than ever before customers are moving across channels and devices to find support and purchase products. Whether it’s the phone, chat, social media, web, messenger or any number of channels, customers are doing a lot of things, in a lot of different places. Are all these touch-points working in synchrony, or are your customers pulling their hair out when they navigate from one to the other? That’s where customer journey tracking comes in; businesses can begin to understand their customer’s behaviors and uncover details that they otherwise wouldn’t catch. It can also measure how well each of these channels are working both individually and holistically.

Here are 4 risks you take by not making the customer journey a priority:

Risk #1 – Losing Customers Who Can’t Find Help

Accenture’s Global Customer Pulse Survey found that customers are increasingly frustrated with the level of service they experience: 91% because they have to contact a company multiple times for the same reason, 90% by being put on hold for a long time, and 89% by having to repeat their issue to multiple representatives. If a customer has to exert a lot of effort to find help, that’s a negative experience, and a flawed customer journey. Support should be at the forefront of your business. Fonolo has understood this from day one with its Web, Mobile, and In-Call Rescue solutions. But if you refuse to track the customer journey, there’s no way to tell which customers you’re losing because of this simple problem. Not convinced? Here are some fantastic resources to help clear things up: https://fonolo.com/resources/#datasheets

Did you know that 67% of online shoppers end up calling a business directly for purchases greater than $100? Customers want to feel secure when they are making a hefty purchase, and that live phone conversation provides reassurance. However, this escalation from web to phone should be seamless, but for most businesses, it’s not. By tracking the customer journey, you are also tracking the customer experience, and how well your channels are working together.

Let’s say a customer wants to deposit a cheque into their bank account. Previously, customers had to visit their nearest bank branch and deposit it manually. Now, many large banks have developed ways for customers to automatically deposit cheques through photo detection using a bank’s mobile app. This strategy did not emerge overnight; the financial industry realized there was a channel issue in the customer journey and they needed to solve it. Years ago, Amazon discovered that a 100 millisecond increase in speed equaled a 1% ($1.6 billion) revenue increase. Again, the less time and effort it takes your customers to complete a transaction and move across channels, the better.

Risk #3 – Negative Customer Experiences When Using Multiple Devices

You own a TV, a laptop, a mobile phone, and a tablet. Yet your website isn’t optimized for mobile. Common guys, it’s 2016, your customers no longer make purchase decisions using one device; instead they’re weaving in and out of different entry points. In fact, 65% begin their purchase path on a smartphone, 61% of them continue on a PC/laptop and 4% continue on a tablet. And 63% of customers tend to purchase high-value ($200 or more) items using multiple devices. It’s as if customers need to be swayed into the purchase as they jump from device-to-device, which is why improving the customer experience is so important. If any of these user experiences are not designed with this in mind, it’s possible your customers will give up completely, rather than starting over again with the original device. By tracking the customer journey from each device you can see where skews in the experience are occurring, and optimize from there.

When you’re accurately able to follow a customer’s journey, you’ve given yourself more opportunities to re-engage and upsell them through their favorite channels. Take this scenario: A customer opens their mobile device to check if you have a product available, they add the product to their checkout cart but then their phone dies. By the time they get home and charge their phone, they’ve completely forgotten about their intent to purchase. So, what can be done to improve and excel this interaction? A reminder e-mail is one simple way to reengage your customer. But the only way to know this has happened is if you’re tracking point of abandonment, otherwise, that transaction could be lost forever. Neglecting these opportunities is a major detriment to any business’ overall revenue generation. Being attentive to your customers’ actions, without appearing invasive, can also stimulate customer loyalty. A polite nudge that invites customers to return is more positive than negative in the eyes of a customer.

Brett Shockley, former Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Avaya, agrees. He says that “… optimizing each interaction and creating an engaged customer relationship drives repeat purchases and increased loyalty.”